The present invention relates to aerators for aerating ground such as lawns and golf course fairways and greens by removing plugs of turf therefrom. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for collecting turf plugs after they are removed from the lawn, fairway or green by the aerator.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,881,844, 3,022,833, 4,148,362 and 4,422,510 disclose apparatus for the provision of vertical channels in grass, fields, meadows, etc. (hereinafter aerators or aerating machines).
U.S. Pat. No. 2,088,209 discloses apparatus for cutting and removing plugs of turf including a collector means for collecting the turf plugs. The collector means comprises a bag-like body 54 and an open collecting chamber or receptacle 55 pivotally connected to a collector frame via a fulcrum shaft 57. Pull-springs 64, connected between the frame of the collector means and stationary points on the carriage of the apparatus, operate to yieldably swing the collecting means inwardly. The collector receptacle may be emptied by manually swinging the same rearwardly and upwardly against the tension of the pull-springs 64.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,578 discloses a plug catcher for a green aerator which temporarily catches the small plugs of turf as they are extracted by a turf-aerating machine. The catcher is relatively easy to attach and remove from the gleaning edge, that is, the front or leading edge. Once attached, the catcher is located only a small fraction of an inch from the ground, this distance being regulated effectively by locating this edge closely adjacent to the ground contact points of the rear supporting wheels of the aerator. The catcher is essentially a platform and is illustrated as having a wall making it box-like. The catcher is substantially balanced upon ground-contacting casters with the front end releasably latched onto the axle of the aerator and extending below the axle, immediately to the rear of the aerator's plug extractors, so that the gleaning edge brushes the grass of the fairway turf and is positively held in this turfengaging position to sweep the extracted plugs into the box-like enclosure of the catcher. Two axle-engaging latch hooks, one at each side, are provided for attaching and handling the catcher, which when loaded with extracted turf plugs is lifted from the aerator machine and ordinarily emptied into a truck or cart. However, handling the aerator and catcher requires at least two people.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,293 discloses a turf plug catcher comprising a pan 16 having side walls 20, 22 rotatably connected to rigid pan support members 40 by pins 42 and 44. Hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 48 are connected to the side walls 20, 22 and are used to dump the pan and return it to a collecting position. To dump the pan 16, an operator first lifts the aerator and then actuates the hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 48 moving the pan 16 to and from the dumping position. The hydraulic system requires additional hydraulic connections to a tractor or the like, and is mechanically complex and expensive to manufacture and maintain.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,322 discloses a lawn sweeper with a hamper 16 for collecting debris swept up from a lawn. The hamper is supported on support plates 70 and pins 72 that are located rearwardly of the center of gravity of the hamper support so that when the hamper is loaded with debris, the hamper remains at its forward or normal loading position. The hamper may be dumped by manually elevating or raising-the hamper to a rear dumping position using lifting handle 84, or by pulling on handle 92 which pulls cable 90 to rotate the hamper to the dumping position.